In this episode
Melissa Blunte, Director of Consumer Experience at Georgia-Pacific, argues that the enterprise risk in an AI-saturated marketing function isn’t bad data — it’s mistaking precision for understanding. Georgia-Pacific’s brands (Angel Soft, Quilted Northern, Brawny, Sparkle, Dixie) are used by millions of people daily, often without conscious thought, which makes the “why” behind a purchase harder to see and more valuable to know. Blunte leads capability development for the marketing organization, and her work centers on a claim most companies still treat as a marketing problem: consumer understanding has to reach R&D, operations, and the manufacturing floor before it changes what the company actually makes. She talks with Greg Kihlström about the practical, low-cost methods that keep qualitative connection alive at enterprise scale, and the three human skills — curiosity, empathy, critical thinking — that get more valuable as AI absorbs the analytical workload.
Key takeaways
- Data tells you what and when a consumer bought; it does not tell you why. Blunte’s core warning is that teams “mistake this precision for understanding” — believing they know the consumer better than they do because the dataset is large and accurate.
- The magic is in marrying the two, not choosing between them. Purchase and search data narrows where to look; human connection explains why one message resonated and another didn’t.
- “Brand building is way too important to leave it in the hands of marketers.” Blunte cites this line from a former agency partner as the argument for pushing consumer understanding into every function.
- The moments of truth happen after the purchase. Awareness and consideration are marketing’s turf, but whether the product performs as expected — and whether the consumer buys again — is decided by R&D and manufacturing.
- Humanizing the consumer is the mechanism that moves non-marketers. Blunte spends time in Georgia-Pacific’s manufacturing facilities describing the actual person using Angel Soft or Quilted Northern, and the recurring reaction is recognition: “That sounds just like my aunt. That sounds just like my wife.”
- That recognition converts making a product into serving a person. Once plant teams see the consumer as someone they know, they become more motivated to look for ways to solve problems for them.
- Store walks and consumer reviews are the cheapest qualitative instruments available. Walking the shelf and reading reviews on walmart.com and target.com deliver real-time consumer feedback at almost no cost, and are sustainable enough to run continuously.
- Record your immersions and cut them into bite-sized content. Focus groups and in-home immersions only pay off organization-wide if the footage travels beyond the people who were in the room.
- Curiosity, empathy, and critical thinking are the skills to cultivate as AI takes the tactical work. Blunte’s argument on critical thinking is the sharpest: as technology delivers answers faster, the discipline to pause and ask another question becomes the differentiator.
Chapters
- 0:00 — The wall AI can build between a brand and its customers
- 3:02 — From Abbott and Pfizer to 13 years at Georgia-Pacific
- 4:21 — Brands people use every day without thinking about them
- 6:16 — The biggest danger: mistaking precision for understanding
- 8:26 — Why consumer understanding can’t stay inside marketing
- 10:52 — Humanizing the consumer on the manufacturing floor
- 14:18 — Store walks and reviews: qualitative connection at enterprise scale
- 17:49 — The human skills that matter more as AI absorbs the tactical work
- 19:27 — Empathy and critical thinking in a faster-answer world
- 20:57 — Staying agile: listening as an active practice
Why more data makes human understanding more urgent, not less
Blunte’s framing inverts the usual assumption. The volume of available consumer data is enormous and still growing, and that abundance is exactly what creates the risk: precision starts to feel like comprehension. The data reliably captures what a consumer bought, when they bought it, and what they searched beforehand. What it cannot supply is the reason a person searched three places before deciding, or why one message landed and a near-identical one didn’t. Her position is not that the data is unimportant — it’s that the “why” sits outside it, and has to be gone after deliberately.
Why consumer understanding can’t stay a marketing function
Customer centricity is easy to champion inside marketing and hard to land in operations, finance, or product development. Blunte’s answer is a reframe of where brand value actually gets created. Driving awareness and consideration matters, but the decisive moments come when the consumer uses the product and judges whether it did what they expected. The R&D team designing the product and the person running the line making it are both operating on those moments — so they need the same consumer understanding as anyone with “marketing” in their title.
What humanizing the consumer looks like inside a plant
The method Blunte describes is deliberately simple: go to the manufacturing facilities and talk about the specific person who uses the product. Not a segment, a person — the parent rushing home to get dinner on the table, who needs the Dixie plate to hold the spaghetti and the paper towel to handle the spilled milk without a second thought. The tell that it’s working is the same every time: people say the consumer sounds like their aunt, their wife, or themselves. At that point the abstract consumer stops being abstract, and the job shifts from making a product to serving a person.
Low-cost qualitative methods that survive at enterprise scale
The constraint Blunte names isn’t budget, it’s sustainability — the connection has to happen consistently, and in enough different formats that people with different roles and learning styles actually internalize it. Store walks put teams in the consumer’s shoes for the price of an afternoon. Consumer reviews on retailer sites deliver unfiltered, real-time feedback on what people love and don’t about the product, continuously and for free. Focus groups and in-home immersions still matter, but their organizational return depends on capturing recordings and editing them into short pieces that circulate to the broader team.
The three skills marketing leaders should cultivate for an AI-heavy future
Blunte names curiosity first, because the tools keep changing and the skill you have today has a short shelf life — curiosity is what makes someone keep adapting rather than defending what they already know. Empathy is second: the genuine desire for human connection with the consumer, so that a leader operates across the qualitative and the quantitative rather than defaulting to whichever the dashboard shows. Critical thinking is third, and she frames it as the one AI makes more necessary. Technology now returns answers faster and more easily, which is precisely why the few minutes spent interrogating an answer and asking a follow-up question are the ones that determine whether it gets used properly.
FAQ
What is the biggest risk of over-indexing on consumer data? Mistaking precision for understanding. Melissa Blunte argues that a large, accurate dataset can convince a team it knows the consumer when it only knows their behavior — the what and the when, never the why behind a choice.
How do you make consumer understanding a company-wide priority rather than a marketing one? By connecting non-marketing functions to the moments of truth they actually control. R&D and manufacturing determine whether the product meets expectations and earns a repeat purchase, so they need the same consumer understanding as the marketing team.
What does “humanizing the consumer” mean in practice? Describing a specific person and a specific moment in their day rather than a segment. At Georgia-Pacific this happens inside manufacturing facilities, and the signal it landed is when employees recognize the consumer as someone from their own life.
What are low-cost ways to maintain qualitative consumer connection at scale? Store walks that put teams on the shelf alongside consumers, and reading consumer reviews on retailer sites like walmart.com and target.com for continuous real-time feedback. Both are sustainable, budget-light, and repeatable.
Which human skills become more important as AI handles more marketing work? Curiosity, empathy, and critical thinking. Blunte singles out critical thinking as the one AI raises the stakes on: when answers arrive faster, the discipline to think them through and ask another question is what keeps them from being used badly.
About Melissa Blunte
Melissa Blunte is Director, Consumer Experience at Georgia-Pacific, where she leads the capability development group for the marketing organization. She is a strategic brand and commercial leader with 20 years of experience driving growth and innovation across Fortune 500 companies and billion-dollar brands including Zyrtec®, Lipitor®, Similac® Infant Formula, Quilted Northern®, and Angel Soft®. Her career has spanned sales and brand management — including roles at Abbott and Pfizer — and 13 years at Georgia-Pacific working on brands such as Angel Soft and Quilted Northern. From launching products and crafting integrated marketing strategies to leading high-performing teams and managing P&Ls, her focus has been on delivering measurable impact, combining big-company discipline, cross-functional leadership, and entrepreneurial agility.
Melissa Blunte on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-mapp-blunte-b452359/
Resources
Georgia-Pacific: https://www.gp.com/
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Transcript
[00:01:01] Greg Kihlström: [gentle music] Hi, I’m Greg Kihlström, host of The Agile Brand, and here’s a question for you: as companies invest billions in AI and automation to scale customer interactions, are they unintentionally building a wall between their brand and the very people they’re trying to serve? Agility requires that as technology accelerates, our ability to listen and to understand the customer must accelerate even faster. Today we’re going to talk about how organizations can maintain and deepen their connection to consumers in an era increasingly defined by technological distance. We’re gonna explore why the more we lean on AI for efficiency, the more we need to invest in genuine human understanding, how to translate abstract consumer insights into tangible actions that resonate across the entire organization, not just the marketing department, and the skills and cultural shifts necessary to prepare marketing leaders for a future where empathy is as critical as data analysis.. To help me discuss this topic, I’d like to welcome Melissa Blunt, Director of Consumer Experience at Georgia-Pacific. Melissa, welcome to the show.
[00:02:50] Melissa Blunte: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here today.
[00:02:55] Greg Kihlström: Yeah, looking forward to diving in here. before we do, though, why don’t you give a little background on yourself and your role at Georgia-Pacific?
[00:03:02] Melissa Blunte: Sure. Like you mentioned, my name’s Melissa Blunt. my career really has been, rooted in sales and, brand management, so I started most of my career in healthcare, so working for companies like Abbott and Pfizer, and then I’ve been here at GP for the last 13 years, where I’ve worked on brands like Angel Soft and Quilted Northern. But in this current role, where I am leading our, capability development group, and, in this role it’s really cool, ’cause it’s been a great chance for me to kind of bring together all of these experiences that I’ve had over the years. it’s a chance for me to, help transform the organization for us to improve our brand-building, capability, to help our marketers be better marketers as we develop that capability. so it’s a really exciting way to help move the organization, our marketing organization forward.
[00:04:02] Greg Kihlström: Yeah, yeah, and I, I would say most if not all are listening out there are familiar with Georgia-Pacific’s products, but they might not think about the consumer experience behind them, so much. Could you set the stage for us on, what the company’s focus and the diverse com- customer base that you serve?
[00:04:21] Melissa Blunte: Sure. Yes, great point. the, the really interesting thing about the brands that Georgia-Pacific, makes is that they’re used in people’s homes every day, all the time but in a way that sometimes you’re not even conscious that you’re using them. So when you think about, going to the bathroom and using products like Angel Soft and Quilted Northern, you may not be thinking about it consciously, but those are the brands that you’re using, or wiping up that spill with something like a Brawny paper towel or a Sparkle. so millions and millions of consumers every day using our products and using them in ways that, they don’t always recognize that they’re using them. Um-
[00:05:06] Greg Kihlström: Yeah
[00:05:06] Melissa Blunte: … so when we think about consumer experience, we’re really thinking about every moment of that day for that consumer. it’s not just one touch point, it’s not just one moment, one, time that they need our product, but it’s, it’s understanding their life and understanding where they have opportunity for us to, to bring solutions for them. I think about, that, that mom who is, rushing home from work to get home and make a really perfect meal for her family, and, she’s gotta make sure her, that product performs, right? So that Dixie plate that she puts that spaghetti on, it, [laughs] it can’t mess up, right? She does not have time to clean up that spill and have to make something else for dinner. It’s the fact that her kid just spilled milk. That paper towel has to be able to clean that up right away, and she has to be able to trust that it’s gonna do that. So it’s, it’s really understanding those moments in her life- That enable us to be able to create products that she can trust and that she knows are going to be able to deliver for her.
[00:06:16] Greg Kihlström: Yeah. Yeah. So I wanna get started here by talking about, some- something I teed up in the intro, but this, this strategic imperative of human connection. Certainly we talk a lot about AI, we talk a lot about data and automation on, on this show, and just as marketers in general, but there’s a risk that brands can know the customer through data and, and data points without ever truly understanding them. So from your perspective, what’s the biggest strategic danger for an enterprise that over-indexes on having the right data points, but under-indexes on that human context?
[00:06:57] Melissa Blunte: Yeah, that’s a really, that’s a really great question. The, the amount of data that we have today is just … I- i- it’s enormous, and it continues to increase. But I, but I really do think that, the biggest danger that we face is, is that we mistake this, this precision for understanding, thinking that we understand more than we really do because we have so much data. And so to me, that’s the, the biggest watch-out or biggest concern. all this data we have helps us understand what the consumer bought, what time they bought it. What were they searching before they actually made that purchase, which is all super important, super valuable information, but why? Why did they choose to, to search on these couple of places before making that final decision? why did this one message resonate, but not this one? The, the why behind things is the place where data alone doesn’t give us, and so all the data in the world, you still have to be able to ensure that you are making that actual human connection with the consumer to dig a little deeper and understand why they’re making those choices.
[00:08:20] Greg Kihlström: Mm.
[00:08:20] Melissa Blunte: because that’s when you, you really marry those two together, and that’s where the magic really happens.
[00:08:26] Greg Kihlström: Yeah. Well, and, and that, that deep understanding, certainly I, I know that it’s championed a lot by, by marketing, that customer centricity, but sometimes it can struggle to gain traction in other areas, operations, finance, even product development. How do you make the case that that deep customer understanding, not just data points, but truly understanding the context and, and the customer, isn’t just a marketing function or a brand function, but really a core business imperative?
[00:08:57] Melissa Blunte: Hmm. Yeah. I love that. and honestly, that’s a big part of what I’ve been working on here at Georgia-Pacific for the last few years, trying to help those people who may not have the word marketing or brand in their job title but for them to have that same level of, of, consumer understanding and brand understanding. There’s a, an agency partner that I’ve worked with in the past who used to say, “Brand building is way too important to leave it in the hands of marketers.”
[00:09:35] Greg Kihlström: [laughs]
[00:09:36] Melissa Blunte: and I love that, right? Like, it, it, it totally reinforces the fact that everyone has a role to play in order for our brands to be strong. I think about, the ability to drive awareness, to drive someone to consider our products, obviously super important parts of, of the experience for the consumer, but when the consumer actually uses the product, does it meet what they were expecting it, to do? Do they wanna go back and buy the product again? Like, those are the moments of truth, and that team that’s innovating in our R&D organization, the person who is working at our manufacturing facilities day in and day out making the product, they’ve gotta understand who that consumer they’re making this product for. and so it’s just as important for them to understand that as it is that same person who has the word marketing in their title. but to answer your question, you asked, how do you get traction, and what we’ve been doing here at Georgia-Pacific is really helping to g- to help them to have that same knowledge. And so it’s a- it almost sounds too simple, but helping
[00:10:52] Melissa Blunte: to humanize these consumers, humanize these experiences that our consumers are going through, humanize those moments where they need our products. And so I’ve spent a lot of time in our manufacturing facilities helping the people making our products every day understand more about the person who is using Angel Soft or Quilted Northern, and when you start talking about this consumer, the, the thing that I think has been most [laughs] exciting and interesting has that aha that you see every time. Every time. As they hear more understanding of the consumer, you hear them say things like, “Wait, that sounds just like my aunt. That sounds just like my wife,” or, or, or even, “That sounds like me.” and so they’re making that connection that this abstract consumer isn’t so abstract, but they’re someone they can relate to in their own personal lives. And what I’ve seen happen is they then have even a greater interest in, in serving that person and in ensuring that they are having the best consumer experience. So suddenly it’s not just, “I’m making Quilted Northern or Angel Soft,” but, “I’m serving a consumer.” And because they understand that person in a little deeper of a way, they’re more motivated
[00:12:12] Melissa Blunte: and, looking for ways to, to, to solve problems for them. So I know it may sound simple, but helping them to understand the consumer in a way that is not so abstract, it, it has been a really great way to gain traction.
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[00:14:18] Greg Kihlström: [instrumental music] Let’s talk a little bit about how you get to that understanding as well, and so certainly I’m sure there’s a lot, there’s a lot of methods used, surveys, focus groups. w- beyond, beyond those things even, what are some of the practical methods that you use to maintain, not only get that understanding, but maintain a real qualitative connection with consumers that can certainly be mapped to some of those data points as well, but, having that qualitative connection when you’re operating at the scale of, of a Georgia-Pacific?
[00:14:55] Melissa Blunte: Yeah, the, um… That is definitely, a challenge, but it’s so important that, that, that it’s happening, and it’s happening on a consistent basis, so doing it in a way that is sustainable for the organization. People learn and receive information in different ways, so doing it with some variety so that, regardless of who that person is or what their role is, that they’re able to actually, understand that and really internalize it. but a couple of, I think, easy ways that, that we’ve done that is, I mean, things like going on store walks, making sure that con- that we are getting a chance to literally walk in the same shoes that our consumers
[00:15:40] Melissa Blunte: are. it’s an easy, sustainable, low-cost way to observe consumers shopping. finding things that you spot yourself on a store, shelf that then helps you to build connections and, and ways to, to improve that consumer experience. Reading consumer reviews. I mean, it’s so simple, but you go on walmart.com, target.com, and y- you get to see what the consumer loves and doesn’t love as much about your products. and so those are real-time feedback that you’re able to get, again, in a sustainable, really low-cost way to be able to get those insights from consumers. Obviously,
[00:16:26] Melissa Blunte: focus groups, in-home, consumer immersions, all of those, super important, but even with those, being able to get some recordings from some of those sessions to create small bite-sized content that then can be used with the broader audience. So I think it’s about creating, a variety of ways that can be sustainable, doesn’t have to burden your budget, but still allow for you to get real-time, consistently, hearing from that consumer.
[00:17:03] Greg Kihlström: Yeah, yeah. Well, and I think, the interesting thing about, many of those is that they’re, they’re often, human interactions to get those, that, that feedback as well, and so, again, for all of the data, and the data’s important to, to collect and, and understand, but there’s still certainly, benefit from having some of those interactions, the walking in their shoes, as you said, as well. I, I wonder also on the, on the employee side, let, let’s talk a little bit about that part too and, just thinking about the f- the future of marketing teams. Certainly we talk a lot about AI on the show. There’s lots of potential for it to handle tactical, analytical workloads for, for marketers, but
[00:17:49] Greg Kihlström: what do you see as some of the uniquely human skills that marketing leaders need to cultivate in their teams as AI and, and automation and other things are, are taking some other things that, the, the teams used to do? Like, what, what becomes either more important to cultivate or, or what, what stands out as, as some of those skills that need to be cultivated in the first place?
[00:18:12] Melissa Blunte: Yeah. Great question, and honestly, it’s a question we’re spending a lot of time thinking about. as we are identifying how, how do we continue to cultivate, great marketers as the world is changing around us so quickly, I think one of the things that I, I think is, has always been important, but in my opinion becomes even more important, is someone who’s just really curious. Um-
[00:18:41] Greg Kihlström: Yeah
[00:18:41] Melissa Blunte: … that curiosity to me is something that some people have, and it just continues to show up, and as the world changes they become curious to understand how to use these new tools, how to best leverage them. but that curiosity is a key driver in, in, in that person being able to do that. So to me, that is, a super important quality, and becomes even more important with the, the, the fact that the world is changing around us so quickly. So the skill you knew today needs to continue to change. You have to remain curious in order to, to adjust to th- to that change, to those changes, and we all know the world’s just moving faster and faster. And so today’s change
[00:19:27] Melissa Blunte: isn’t going to be the e- last one, so you have to remain curious in order to, to, to, just to remain competitive. another thing too I think is being able to, to be empathetic. We, we’ve talked a lot about understanding that it’s important to know maybe what the KPIs and what the tracking metrics show you, but that human connection is still super important as well. so having that empathy, wanting to have that connection with the consumer, not relying 100% on just the data points, but having that, that knowledge that fits across both the qualitative and the quantitative is super important as well. So
[00:20:12] Melissa Blunte: people who are, eager to get that real human connection I think is, is also important. And then I think thirdly I’d say it’s critical thinking also. I mean again, we’ve all had to be critical thinkers, but as technology is giving us answers a little faster and making it easier to get the answers, you still gotta spend a few minutes to really think through those answers, ask another question. and so thinking critically about the information you just got in order to make sure that you are able to use it properly, is another important skill that I think, those of us who, wanna remain competitive have to, have to, have to do even more of.
[00:20:57] Greg Kihlström: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Love, love all of that. Well, Melissa, thanks so much for joining today. It’s been great hearing your ideas and insights. One, one last question as we wrap up here. what do you do to stay agile in your role, and how do you find a way to do it consistently?
[00:21:12] Melissa Blunte: Yeah. for me I, I think it’s, it’s, it’s spending a lot of time listening. Obviously in my day-to-day I’ve, I’ve gotta get my job done. [laughs]
But spending just as much time hearing from experts, hearing from others in the field what they are doing, internally listening to our leaders, understanding what their objectives are, getting great… a great understanding of how the world is evolving and how things are changing. Spend a lot of time going to, to conferences where I can continue to extend my learning. so I think it’s the idea of just listening and being an active learner. It doesn’t stop. It doesn’t, change. And so I think that’s, for me, a key way that I’ve been able to do that. Obviously have to keep up with the day job, but that learning is what I think helps me be able to keep up with the day job, so a super important way to, to remain competitive. but Greg, thanks so much for having me today. Great conversation. I really enjoyed it, and,happy to spend this time with you. Really enjoyed it.
